Biodiversity : Impact and Assessment

Contents: Preface. 1. Biodiversity--the concepts, measurements and the status/S. Sundaramoorthy, Harish, Dinesh K. Agrawal and Manohar Singh Suthar. 2. Biodiversity of mangrove ecosystems of Orissa and its conservation with special reference to Bhitarakanika National Park/P.K. Dash, Santilata Sahoo, Deepak K. Sahoo and Pratyush P. Mohapatra. 3. Biodiversity crisis management--need of the hour/M. Vijaya Koteswari. 4. Biodiversity of tropical deciduous forest of Achanakmar-Amarkantak Biosphere Reserve/Lalji Singh, Dhiraj Kumar Yadav and B.S. Thakur. 5. Mayurbhanj--the biodiversity granaries of Orissa/Kambaska Kumar Behera and Santilata Sahoo. 6. Diversity of Grass flora of West Bengal with special reference to their utility/S. Mitra and Sobhan K. Mukherjee. 7. Diversity of aquatic and wet land plants of West Dinajpur District, West Bengal/S. Mitra and Sobhan K. Mukherjee. 8. Trees and shrubs of Koch Bihar District, West Bengal/S. Bandyopadhyay and Sobhan K. Mukherjee. 9. The Palms of West Bengal/T. Bhuinya and Sobhan K. Mukherjee. 10. Comparative tree community analysis of two old-growth tropical dry evergreen forests of Peninsular India/M. Anbarashan and N. Parthsarathy. 11. Maize: advances in domestic and industrial uses/K. Bhupinder, Manisha Kaushal and K. Gursharan. 12. Edible Pteridophytes in India/Silpi Das. 13. Ground flora diversity under man-made forests of D. sissoo and B. Penicillata in stress sites/S.K. Banerjee, Avinash Jain and A.K. Singh. 14. Invasive alien plants--a threat to the biosphere/Snehlata Bhandari, N.S. Bisht, Mamta Sajwan, Upma Dobhal and Shivani Bisht. 15. Biodiversity and conservation: strategy and action plans/Poonam Meena and P.C. Trivedi. Index.

"Biodiversity assumed prominence at the global level over the past one and half decade. This was in part due to the increasing recognition of the economic potential of biodiversity. Almost all cultures have in some way or form recognized the importance that nature, and its biological diversity has had upon them and the need to maintain it. Yet, power, greed and politics have affected the precarious balance. It is necessary that we conserve and preserve our biodiversity at all levels.

The present book "Biodiversity : Impact and Assessment" includes 15 chapters on the topics which are contributing toward this goal. This book will be highly beneficial to students, teachers, and research workers in the field of Environment, botany, biodiversity conservation, ecology, zoology and forestry." (jacket)